[Osmf-talk] I’m running for OSMF board and I’ve set up office hours for questions

Edward Bainton bainton.ete at gmail.com
Sat Dec 12 14:26:35 UTC 2020


Any update on this before voting closes, Mike?

Just an answer to my question (1) would be much appreciated given time
available.

Many thanks,

Edward


On Fri, 11 Dec 2020 at 09:15, Edward Bainton <bainton.ete at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Mike
>
> Thanks for the time and care you've taken in replying. I hadn't spotted
> your work on Field Papers before, and I have used these plenty - so thank
> you.
>
> I would like to restate one of my questions as I don't think you addressed
> it:
>
> 1. Would you have any contractual obligation to work in the interests of
> Facebook if you were on the board?
> (PS: If yes, please give full details.)
>
> To answer "What assurance can you give that you would exercise your own
> independent judgment?" you referred to your manifesto priorities, which
> isn't the same thing. You did say "I am not my employer", but I also asked
> for clarification of whether Facebook would have a controlling influence
> over you if you were a board member. In answering (1) above, it would be
> helpful if you could also touch on these related questions.
>
> I would also like to ask some follow-up questions:
>
> 2. Are you aware that directors of OSMF have a legal duty to exercise
> independent judgment?
> (Naturally, this is something everyone should want for the good of OSM,
> but I think it's worth pointing out that it is a legal duty, and that it is
> very wide-ranging. In some cases the duty continues after a director has
> left office. See
> https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/part/10/chapter/2)
>
> 3. I'm reassured that you say "rules regarding conflict of interest govern
> what I can do as a board member". In light of your role at Facebook, (a)
> could you give some examples of the sorts of decisions by the board that
> you would consider put you in a conflict of interest? (b) Some examples of
> decisions that you consider would not? (c) How would you deal with these
> conflicts of interest when they arose?
>
> 4. Beyond its legal and comms representatives vetting your application, is
> Facebook faciilitating your putting yourself forward for election in any
> way, and would Facebook offer any facilitation to you if you were appointed
> as a director - just by way of example, by making work time available for
> you to discharge your duties?
>
> Thanks again for the time you're taking to respond. Best regards,
>
> Edward
>
>
>
> On Fri, 11 Dec 2020 at 04:58, Michal Migurski <mike at teczno.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Edward, thanks for these excellent questions! I’ll do my best to
>> answer them.
>>
>> To your first question, about assurance: the priorities stated in my
>> manifesto (linked below) have the health and best interests of OSM in mind.
>> I named three areas that need work: technical operations, attracting
>> diverse new participants through policy changes such as a code of conduct,
>> and building bridges to under-represented parts of the OSM community.
>>
>> These topics have been important to me for a decade predating my
>> employment with Facebook. I chose to work with FB’s mapping organization to
>> further these aims, and I’ve been consistent in my goals and proposals for
>> many years prior to FB’s interest in OSM. I think I’m a useful addition to
>> the board, though I’ll also point out that Eugene and Willy, candidates
>> from the Philippines and Cameroon, also deserve your votes for a more
>> representative global mapping project.
>>
>>
>> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/AGM20/Election_to_Board/Answers_and_manifestos/Michal_Migurski#Manifesto
>>
>> To your second question, it’s often a necessity of holding a job that
>> comms, PR, and legal departments approve individual communications in areas
>> relevant to the business. At FB we’re fortunate that the company allows us
>> to engage in work-adjacent activities. By contrast, I’ve turned down roles
>> at other well-known tech companies who refused to approve my non-profit
>> activities or open source contributions.
>>
>> I’m not sure how to best address your third point about legal personhood,
>> except to agree that it’s correct and that rules regarding conflict of
>> interest govern what I can do as a board member. I’m not my employer, but I
>> did *choose* my employer and my experience in the technology and mapping
>> industries qualifies me to help OSMF succeed at its goals.
>>
>> To your fourth question, some examples of FB support for OSM: we’ve
>> funded conference events held by the foundation and local chapters over the
>> years, contributed  to OSM software projects, exposed billions of viewers
>> to OSM, engaged the participation and help of other mapping entities to
>> expand the map, and our MapWith.AI program is a benefit to OSM thanks to my
>> colleague Drishtie Patel’s tireless work in negotiating our community
>> approach since 2016.
>>
>> FB is also a supporter of OSM’s attribution + share-alike license
>> strategy. I know from the thread on the other list that this is a
>> controversial statement, so I won’t argue the point but I will close with a
>> suggestion. A large company using OSM data needs to see official policy
>> like a formal Attribution Guideline to improve our interpretation of the
>> ODBL. There are hundreds of people to convince of the guidelines’
>> legitimacy. If changing FB’s practices around attribution is important to
>> you, please consider participating in the work of the LWG who’ve not been
>> well-supported over the years.
>>
>> I hope this answers your questions, Edward!
>>
>> -mike.
>>
>> > On Dec 10, 2020, at 11:38 AM, Edward Bainton <bainton.ete at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi Mike
>> >
>> > I appreciate you putting yourself forward for the board positions. I've
>> read your manifesto and I wonder if you could clarify some things:
>> >
>> > You say "My Facebook (FB) obligations encourage me to work in the best
>> interests of the OSM project."
>> > "Encourage" is not "require". Would you have any contractual obligation
>> to work in the interests of Facebook if you were on the board? What
>> assurance can you give that you would exercise your own independent
>> judgment, espeically given your employment in what (sounds to be) a core
>> unit in Facebook's mapping work?
>> >
>> > You also say "My candidacy for the OSMF board has been vetted by
>> communications and legal representatives at Facebook". To me this suggests
>> that Facebook would have a controlling influence over you if you were a
>> board member. Could you clarify?
>> >
>> > In answering these two questions it would be useful if you could
>> address the difference between "Facebook's and OSMF's objectives are
>> compatible" (which I infer is your view) and "OSM and Facebook are
>> different legal persons and will necessarily have different interests".
>> >
>> > I'm also interested that you say "Facebook has been a consistent
>> supporter of the OSM community, growth of the project, and OSM’s ODbL
>> license strategy."
>> > Could you please share some examples of this support?
>> >
>> > Thanks for your time and effort in fielding questions about your
>> candidacy. Regards,
>> >
>> > Edward / eteb3
>> >
>> > On Mon, 30 Nov 2020 at 19:03, Michal Migurski <mike at teczno.com> wrote:
>> > Hi everyone,
>> >
>> > I’m excited to be running for the OSMF board this year! In 2021, OSM’s
>> community has two opportunities to grow stronger together: we should make
>> the OSM organization support a wider diversity of participants and we must
>> succeed at starting to manage our technical operations professionally.
>> >
>> > I’d like to make myself available for conversations with anyone who has
>> questions about my candidacy, manifesto, priorities, or really anything
>> else. I did this last year when I ran and ended up having a few really fun
>> conversations with community members. I’m blocking these four times over
>> the next two weeks prior to the close of voting and AGM on Dec 12; get in
>> touch via email if you’d like to chat by text, voice, or video!
>> >
>> >       • Dec 1, 16:00 PST –
>> https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OSMF+Campaign+Office+Hours&iso=20201201T16&p1=388&ah=1
>> >       • Dec 3, 8:00 PST –
>> https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OSMF+Campaign+Office+Hours&iso=20201203T08&p1=388&ah=1
>> >       • Dec 4, 16:00 PST –
>> https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OSMF+Campaign+Office+Hours&iso=20201205T16&p1=388&ah=1
>> >       • Dec 9, 8:00 PST –
>> https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OSMF+Campaign+Office+Hours&iso=20201209T08&p1=388&ah=1
>> >
>> > Read my complete manifesto on the Wiki for more about why I think I’d
>> make a good OSMF board member:
>> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/AGM20/Election_to_Board/Answers_and_manifestos/Michal_Migurski#Manifesto
>> >
>> > -mike.
>> >
>> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
>> > michal migurski- contact info and pgp key:
>> > sf/ca            http://mike.teczno.com/contact.html
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > osmf-talk mailing list
>> > osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
>> > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>> michal migurski- contact info and pgp key:
>> sf/ca            http://mike.teczno.com/contact.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> osmf-talk mailing list
>> osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/attachments/20201212/b0f44c40/attachment.htm>


More information about the osmf-talk mailing list